When George Lucas announced that a new television series was on the way in 2005, nobody could have imagined how big it would become. Over the last five seasons and 108 episodes, The Clone Wars managed to constantly combine amazing storytelling with beautiful animation and fantastic voice acting. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Lucas originally said that we’d be getting five seasons and 100 episodes, and as the Force would have it, that’s exactly what happened.

Lucasfilm and Disney have announced that production on Star Wars: The Clone Wars has begun “winding down.” The Season Five finale will likely be the last episode of the show ever broadcast on television, but the story arcs already in production – dubbed “bonus content” – will be completed and distributed in one form or another. This news is very disappointing, but everyone here at EUCantina is thankful that we’ll at least get to see the rest of what the show had in store. Lucasfilm promises that it will be “some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen.” For a clip of this bonus content, formerly known as “season six,” check out this interview with Dave Filoni.

As part of this announcement, Star Wars: Detours, the comedy series from by Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, and Todd Grimes, has been put on hold as well.

Thankfully, it’s not all bad news. With The Clone Wars and Detours out of the picture, Lucasfilm Animation will be free to devote all of its focus toward an all-new animated series “set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming.” This project is currently being “explored,” but it is exciting nonetheless.

While The Clone Wars hasn’t always followed the Expanded Universe to the letter - Even Piell and [SPOILER] Barriss Offee being the prime examples – it was an extremely well-made show which gave us the definitive story of how the Clone Wars played out. From all of us here at EUCantina, we want to thank the Clone Wars cast and crew for all of their hard work and dedication over the last five seasons. The Clone Wars was truly the best show on television, and we’re sad to see it come to an end. The cast and crew have done so much for Star Wars and fandom in general, and we hope that everyone will have a role to play in the new series.

Stay tuned to EUCantina for more information as it is revealed, and keep tuning into We Talk Clones, our official Clone Wars podcast, for more news, discussion, and reviews of The Clone Wars and any future series from Lucasfilm Animation.

Press Release

A New Direction for Lucasfilm Animation

As we enter into an exciting new era focused on the next Star Wars trilogy, Lucasfilm has decided to pursue a new direction in animated programming. We are exploring a whole new Star Wars series set in a time period previously untouched in Star Wars films or television programming. You can expect more details in the months to come.

As part of this shift, we have also made some key decisions affecting Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Detours.

After five highly successful and critically acclaimed seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we feel the time has come to wind down the series. While the studio is no longer producing new episodes for Cartoon Network, we’re continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen. Stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content. In the video below, Supervising Director Dave Filoni offers a peek of what is to come in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

At Star Wars Celebration VI last year, George Lucas gave fans a glimpse at the animated comedy series Star Wars Detours from Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, and Todd Grimes. Detours was conceived and produced before we decided to move forward with the new Star Wars trilogy, and in the wake of that decision, Lucasfilm has reconsidered whether launching an animated comedy prior to the launch of Episode VII makes sense. As a result, we’ve decided to postpone the release of Detours until a later date.

We are incredibly proud of the teams at Lucasfilm Animation for creating some of the most amazing animation ever produced for TV. Keep checking StarWars.com for new developments on these and future projects.